The advent of the prosthetic heart valve has provided many patients with both improved quality of life and increased longevity. The primary function of a prosthetic heart valve is to act as a check valve, opening to permit antegrade blood flow and closing to prevent retrograde flow, about one hundred thousand times a day. The valve elements move in response to a threshold pressure gradient in one direction, allowing flow through the valves, while closing in the opposite direction, preventing reverse flow below the threshold pressure gradient.
Prosthetic heart valves go through extensive testing and quality checks because failure of the valves in vivo can have catastrophic results. Certain characteristics such as durability, and proper fluid flow, are rigorously tested before a valve is deemed fit.
Currently, valve testing may be accomplished by two known techniques—pulse duplicator testing and accelerated wear testing. The systems facilitating these tests are typically large in size owing to numerous connection tubing and pipes.
Therefore, there is an apparent need for a simple and compact system that facilitates pulse duplicator testing and accelerated wear testing techniques, without any performance drawbacks.